Safety cardboard packaging in particular for beverage dispensers

ABSTRACT

An all-cardboard safety packaging ( 1 ) for covering and protecting against free-fall shocks an electric appliance, in particular a household or office appliance such as a kitchen appliance e.g. a beverage preparation machine. The packaging comprises a cardboard handle ( 2 ), in particular an integral handle, for holding and carrying such packaging when containing the electric appliance.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a packaging for a good, such as an electric appliance, in particular a beverage dispenser. The packaging is arranged to protect the good against shocks.

BACKGROUND ART

There are various packaging systems for protecting goods, such as electric appliances. Typically, such packaging systems include cardboard and/or plastic materials for protecting the goods against mechanical shocks.

Examples of such systems are disclosed in DE 74 19 516 for packaging car radios and in US 2007/0135283 for packaging generally rectangular products such as a VCR cartridge, a glass ornament, a work of art, a portable radio or a toner cartridge and the like.

EP 1 586 509 discloses a Packaging system having a cardboard tray for containing a good which is covered with a thermoplastic film that is welded onto the tray. The film is stretched and deformed over the upper part of the good that extends above the rim of the tray so as to secure the good against the bottom of the tray. Such a packaging system may provide some protection against the environment. However, it is not suitable to provide effective protection against shocks. JP11236036 discloses a similar packaging device.

DE 20 2006 015 075 discloses fitting a large good, such as television set, between inflatable cushions having a plat surface that face each other. A simpler system not requiring the maintenance of cushions in an inflated state, which is however less effective to protect goods against mechanical shocks, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,323. This latter patent discloses a packaging system made of an outer box that contains shock-absorbent tubular inserts. The inserts are corrugated and are hingedly coupled to a main cardboard panel. Even though such inserts spacing the goods apart from the outer box dampen shocks inflicted onto the box, they still directly transmit, perpendicularly to the surface of the packaging, such dampened shocks to the packaged goods. A variation of such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,904,734 disclosing a packaging box having a plurality of cushing stripes made of compressible resilient foam bonded and extending along the inner panels of the box to secure goods in the box.

The use of foams, such as expanded polystyrene packaging elements, to absorb shocks, typically within an outer cardboard box or plastic hood is well known. Expanded polystyrene packaging structures for electric appliances are for instance disclosed in greater details in EP 1 612 159.

DE 34 37 399 discloses a cardboard packaging with an integral foldable carrying handle for enclosing and transporting a typewriter. The cardboard packaging is secured about the typewriter by gluing portions of the cardboard together. CH 671 202 discloses a similar parallelepipedic packaging. Furthermore, this packaging is provided with a tearing string for separating the top from the bottom for opening the packaging.

Moreover, WO 2009/115438 discloses a packaging that has a pair of outer cardboard shells with inner spacer plastic foils which are closed about a beverage preparation machine so that that the foils sandwich the machine and space it from the cardboard shells.

However, with the trend towards environmental friendly technology, the plastic materials or expanded polystyrene, which is not easily recyclable because of its light weight and low scrap value and which takes a very long time for decomposing, is becoming a problem. Furthermore, legislative bills have been passed or are being adopted to ban the use of polystyrene for certain packaging applications in various places, in particular in the United States.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a preferred object of the invention to alleviate the disadvantages of the prior art and provide an inexpensive and safe packaging that can be used for shipping to protect electric appliances, in particular kitchen appliances such as beverage preparation machines.

It is a preferred object of the invention to provide a packaging system that complies with recognised safety standards such as the ISO standards, in particular one or more of the ISO standards 2234, 2244, 2247, 2248, 2875, 2876, 8768, 8318, 12048 . . . .

Therefore, the invention relates to an all-cardboard safety packaging for covering and protecting against free-fall shocks an electric appliance, in particular a household or office appliance such as a kitchen appliance e.g. a beverage preparation machine. The packaging comprises a cardboard handle, in particular an integral handle, for holding and carrying such packaging when containing said electric appliance.

Hence, as opposed to prior art safety packagings, the packaging of the invention does not need any structural plastic or polystyrene or corrugated paper parts to achieve the protective function and be carriable single-handed by a user.

Typically, the electric appliance has at least one outermost largest dimension in the range of 20 to 50 cm such as 25 to 40 cm, e.g. its height or its width. The electric appliance may have a weight in the range of 3 to 15 kg such as 5 to 10 kg. Moreover, the safety packaging is arranged to protect the integrity of the electric appliance from shocks resulting from repeated drops of the packaging containing the appliance for example over a height of at least 50 cm, such as at least 70 cm, in particular at least 100 cm and more particularly at least 120 or 150 cm.

For instance, the packaging has an upper cardboard panel that comprises a generally arched cardboard handle portion, in particular a generally u-shaped or inverted u-shaped cardboard portion, for forming the handle. The handle portion may have at least one foot that is connected and hinged to the upper cardboard panel, in particular connected and hinged by folding away the handle portion from the upper cardboard panel, e.g. along a middle or outer edge thereof. The packaging can have a cardboard top panel that covers at least partly the upper panel, the top panel having an opening forming a passage for the handle portion of the upper panel to extend through the top panel. The top panel may include a cardboard handle portion cooperating with the cardboard portion of the upper cardboard panel to form the handle, the handle portion of top panel having optionally a shape that is generally similar to the handle portion of the upper panel. The handle portion of the top panel may have at least one foot that is connected and hinged to the top panel, in particular connected and hinged by folding away the handle portion of the top panel therefrom. The handle portion of the top panel can be connected and hinged adjacent to an edge of the opening forming the passage for the handle portion of the upper panel, the opening in the top panel being optionally formed at least partly by cutting a portion thereof which forms the handle portion of the top panel.

In one embodiment, the packaging comprises a cardboard body portion closed by the upper and the top portions, the top portion being folded over the upper portion and secured thereover by a cardboard interlocking arrangement to the body portion and/or to the upper portion typically to assemble the packaging around the electric appliance. In particular, the upper and the top portions are integral with the body portion. For instance, upon wrapping, the body portion is arranged to extend along the side and the bottom of the electric appliance and the upper and top panel is arranged to extend over the top of the electric appliance.

The upper portion and the body portion can be connected by a hinge, e.g. a folded cardboard part, the interlocking arrangement being configured to lock the top portion at the hinge. Likewise, the top portion can also be connected by a hinge to the body portion. The interlocking arrangement may comprise a male part and a female part interlocked with each other upon wrapping. Optionally, the male part is generally arrow-shaped to allow, in particular facilitate, insertion of the male part into the female part and to inhibit removal of the male part from the female part. In particular, the male part is arrow-shaped to prevent unintentional removal of the male part from the female part.

Preferably, the packaging has an automatic unfolding configuration for automatically unpacking the electric appliance contained therein when the interlocking arrangement is unlocked. Hence, in the closed configuration, the packaging parts are under constraints, in particular at hinges of the folded packaging, so that upon unlocking and release, the packaging opens automatically by unfolding to expose the electric appliance contained therein. Hence, the electric appliance can be separated by a user from the packaging without additional manipulation on the surrounding packaging.

Moreover, the packaging may comprises a plurality of outer panels arranged to surround the electric appliance, and further comprises at least one generally parallelepipedic cardboard spacer element, in particular a bottom spacer element and/or a top spacer element, for spacing the electric appliance from one or more or all outer panels.

Advantageously, to minimise connection operations, in particular involving gluing or handling unconnected sections to assemble the packaging, the packaging can be made of an integral single folded sheet of cardboard.

The packaging may be arranged to be self-standing around the electric appliance, e.g. to require no further device or accessory to be secured around and properly enclose and protect the electric appliance.

The invention also relates to an envelope system comprising a packaging as described above and a container containing the packaging, optionally the container forming a box or bag and/or the container being made of paper or cardboard. In some embodiments, the container may also be used to maintain the packaging in its closed position around the electric appliance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described with reference to the schematic drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a closed packaging according to the invention that is open;

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of an interlocking arrangement of the packaging shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 shows part of such a packaging, unfolded and with variations, according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 discloses an all-cardboard safety packaging 1 according to the invention in its closed or assembled configuration. Packaging 1 is configured to protect against free-fall shocks an electric appliance (not shown), in particular a household or office appliance such as kitchen appliance e.g. a beverage preparation machine.

Examples of such appliances, in particular beverage preparation machines, are disclosed in WO 2009/074550, WO 2009/074553, WO 2009/074555, WO 2009/074557 and WO 2009/074559.

Packaging 1 comprises a cardboard handle 2, in particular an integral handle, for holding and carrying such packaging 1 when containing the electric appliance. Packaging 1 has an upper cardboard panel 10 with a generally arched cardboard handle portion 11, in particular a generally u-shaped or inverted u-shaped cardboard portion, for forming handle 2. Handle portion 11 can be formed by cutting a portion of cardboard in panel 10 and bending upright this portion at its feet 11 a joining panel 10 so as to form a hinge therewith.

Moreover, packaging 1 has a cardboard top panel 12 that covers at least partly upper panel 10. Top panel 12 has an opening 12 a forming a passage for handle portion 11 of upper panel 10 to extend through top panel 12. Furthermore, top panel 12 comprises a cardboard handle portion 13 cooperating with cardboard portion 11 of upper cardboard panel 10 to form handle 2. Handle portion 13 of top panel 12 has a shape that is generally similar to handle portion 11 of upper panel 10. Hence, the juxtaposed handle portions 11,13 form a single handle 2 as shown in FIG. 1.

Handle portion 13 of the top panel 12 has a pair of feet 13 a, 13 b that are connected and hinged to top panel 12, in particular connected and hinged by folding away handle portion 13 from panel 12. Handle portion 13 of top panel 12 is connected and hinged adjacent to edge 12 b of opening 12 a forming the passage for handle portion 11 of the upper panel 10. Opening 12 a in top panel 12 is formed at least partly by cutting a portion of panel 12 which forms handle portion 13 of the top panel 12.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the shape of the outer peripheral part of handle portion 13 coincides with a peripheral part of opening 12 a. As a variation, in FIG. 3, in which the same numeric references generally designate the same elements, opening 12 a is cut open wider than handle 13. Cutting the opening wider than the handle portion facilitates seizure of the handle portion when it is in its horizontal position in the panel prior to upright bending.

Furthermore, packaging 1 has a cardboard body portion 14,15,16 closed by upper and top portions 10,12. Body portion includes two side panels 14,15 and a bottom panel 16. In the illustrated embodiment, upper and the top portions 10,12 are integral with body portion 14,15,16. Side panel 15 has a window 15 a so that electric appliance is visible from the outside therethrough when wrapped in packaging 1.

Top portion 12 is folded over upper portion 10 and secured thereover by a cardboard interlocking arrangement 17,18 to upper portion 10. FIG. 2, in which the same numeric references generally designate the same elements, is an enlarged view of interlocking arrangement 17,18 prior to locking. Alternatively, the handle configuration may serve to lock the packaging around an electric appliance, with or without the aid of such an interlocking arrangement.

Upper portion 10 and side panel 14 of the body portion are connected by a hinge 10′. Interlocking arrangement 17,18 is configured to lock top portion 12 at hinge 10′ so that packaging 1 can be closed, self-standing, around an electric appliance.

Interlocking arrangement 17,18 comprises a male part 18 and a female part 17 interlocked with each other. Female part 17 is formed as a slit in upper part 10 adjacent hinge 10′. In a variation, the female part may be formed on this hinge 10′ or on the adjacent side panel 14. Male part 18 is integral with panel 12.

In FIG. 2, male part is shown generally shaped as an arrow to allow, in particular to facilitate, insertion of male part 18 into female part 17 and inhibit removal therefrom. In the variation shown in FIG. 3, male part 18 is illustrated as a rectangle. In the latter embodiment, male part 18 may be glued in slit 17 or otherwise secured.

Furthermore, packaging 1 has an automatic unfolding configuration for automatically unpacking the electric appliance contained therein when the packaging is unlocked, e.g. when interlocking arrangement 17,18 is unlocked, in particular when male portion 18 is pulled out from female portion 17. Specifically, top panel 12, upper panel 10, side panel 14, bottom panel 16, side panel 15 and top panel 12 are formed of a single sheet of folded cardboard so as to form hinges 10′,12′,14′,15′. However, the folding of the cardboard is partial to maintain hinges 10′,12′,14′,15′ under constraints so that when male portion 18 is disconnected from female portion 17 and released by a user, the constraint associated with the hinges will promote unfolding of panels 10,12,14,15,16 exposing any appliance contained in packaging 1. Hence, the energy required for automatic unpacking the appliance contained in packaging 1 may be elastic, e.g. stored in the constrained folding, and/or gravitational, e.g. packaging 1 may unfold under the weight of at least one side panel 14,15, when packaging 1 is unlocked.

Moreover, packaging 1 a pair of generally hollow parallelepipedic cardboard spacer elements 19,19′, in particular a bottom spacer element 19 and a top spacer element 19′, for spacing the electric appliance from bottom panel 16, on the one hand, and from upper and top panels 10,12, on the other hand. In addition, spacer elements 19,19′ are preferably configured to hold the electric appliance in a central part thereof to space the electric appliance from side panels 14,15. Each spacer element is made of a dedicated folded sheet of cardboard. Each spacer element thus generally forms a tube with a rectangular base. A recess or other seat 19 a, 19 a′ may be provided in or on spacer elements 19,19′ for properly positioning the electric appliance relative thereto. Spacer elements 19,19′ can be glued or clipped against upper panel 10 and bottom panel 16 or merely be urged between electric appliance and bottom and upper panels 10,16. For economic and ecologic reasons, spacer elements are preferably not glued but merely urged or geometrically secured, e.g. by means of front and rear flaps. In a variation, to further simplify the assembly, the spacer element(s) is/are made integral with the cardboard sheet forming panels 10,12.14,15,16. In the latter case, the spacer elements are inherently fully secured to the remaining packaging 1 and do not require any additional positioning or securing arrangement.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, packaging 1 has a plurality of outer panels 10,12,14,15,16 arranged to surround the electric appliance. As opposed to the one shown in FIG. 1, packaging 1 shown in FIG. 3 includes front flaps 20 a, 21 a and rear flaps 20 b, 21 b for reinforcing front and rear ends of panels 14,15 and/or inhibiting drop out of cardboard spacer elements 19,19′ with the electric appliance held therebetween.

Spacer elements 19,19′ act as dampeners for the electric appliance contained in packaging 1 in case packaging drops onto the floor or another rigid surface so as to protect the appliance held in the packaging. Hence, shocks at the outer surface of packaging 1 are not transmitted as such to the appliance but dampened by spacer elements 19,19′ prior to reaching the appliance.

A container 1′ is schematically shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1. The container encloses packaging 1 to form an envelope system around the electric appliance. Container 1′ can be printed and form the consumer-visible part of the wrapping of electric appliance. It may be used merely to present information or to reinforce the stability of the packaging, in particular of the interlocking arrangement. It may also be used as a barrier against dirt, dust or humidity. Container 1 may be formed as a box or a bag and/or be made of paper or cardboard.

When packaging 1 is contained in container 1′, handle 2 may be positioned flat on spacer element 19′ and/or flush with upper and top panels 10,12.

In general, the above spatial references “top”, “upper”, “side”, “bottom”, “rear”, “front”, “horizontal” and “vertical” refer to the packaging in its use configuration, typically containing the electric appliance, when carried by a user by holding the handle. 

1. An all-cardboard safety packaging for covering and protecting an electric appliance against free-fall shocks comprising a cardboard handle for holding and carrying the packaging when containing the electric appliance.
 2. The packaging of claim 1, having an upper cardboard panel comprising a generally arched cardboard handle portion for forming the handle.
 3. The packaging of claim 2, comprising a cardboard top panel that covers at least partly the upper panel, the top panel having an opening forming a passage for the handle portion of the upper panel to extend through the top panel.
 4. The packaging of claim 3, wherein the top panel comprises a cardboard handle portion cooperating with the cardboard portion of the upper cardboard panel to form the handle.
 5. The packaging of claim 4, wherein the handle portion of the top panel has at least one foot that is connected and hinged to the top panel, the opening in the top panel being formed at least partly by cutting a portion thereof which forms the handle portion of the top panel.
 6. The packaging of claim 3, comprising a cardboard body portion closed by the upper and the top portions, the upper and the top portions being integral with the body portion, the top portion being folded over the upper portion and secured thereover by a cardboard interlocking arrangement to the body portion and/or to the upper portion.
 7. The packaging of claim 6, wherein the upper portion and the body portion are connected by a hinge, the interlocking arrangement being configured to lock the top portion at the hinge.
 8. The packaging of claim 6, wherein the interlocking arrangement comprises a male part and a female part interlocked with each other.
 9. The packaging of claim 1, having lockable cardboard portions and an automatic unfolding arrangement for automatically unpacking the electric appliance contained therein when the cardboard portions are unlocked.
 10. The packaging of claim 9, wherein the automatic unfolding arrangement comprises elastically constrained hinges that unfold the cardboard portions.
 11. The packaging of claim 9, wherein the cardboard portions are arranged to unfold under the effect of gravity.
 12. The packaging of claim 1, which is arranged to be self-standing around the electric appliance.
 13. The packaging of claim 1, which comprises a plurality of outer panels arranged to surround the electric appliance, and comprises at least one generally parallelepipedic cardboard spacer element for spacing the electric appliance from one or more or all outer panels.
 14. The packaging of claim 1, which is made of an integral single folded sheet of cardboard.
 15. Envelope system comprising a packaging as an all-cardboard safety packaging for covering and protecting an electric appliance against free-fall shocks comprising a cardboard handle for holding and carrying the packaging when containing the electric appliance and a container containing the packaging.
 16. The packaging of claim 1, comprising an upper cardboard panel that comprises a generally u-shaped or inverted u-shaped cardboard portion, the handle portion having at least one foot that is connected and hinged to the upper cardboard panel, by folding away the handle portion from the upper cardboard panel.
 17. The packaging of claim 4, wherein the handle portion of the top panel has at least one foot that is connected and hinged by folding away the handle portion from the top panel, the handle portion of the top panel being connected and hinged adjacent to an edge of the opening forming the passage for the handle portion of the upper panel, the opening in the top panel being in particular formed at least partly by cutting a portion thereof which forms the handle portion of the top panel.
 18. The packaging of claim 6, wherein the interlocking arrangement comprises a male part and a female part interlocked with each other, the male part being generally arrow-shaped to allow, in particular facilitate, insertion of the male part into the female part and inhibit removal therefrom.
 19. The packaging of claim 1, comprising a plurality of outer panels arranged to surround said electric appliance, and comprises a bottom spacer element and/or a top spacer element comprising one or more hollow elements, for spacing said electric appliance from one or more or all outer panels, the at least one spacer element optionally comprising at least a seat for receiving said electric appliance. 